Question

Assume that you are an intern working for the California Public Employees Retirement System (CALPERS) in its investments office and you have been asked to evaluate a number of companies for possible investment by CALPERS. You prepare an analysis of each company’s prospects using the tools of financial statement analysis (e.g., trend analysis, common size statements, ratio analysis). Thinking you are done, you present your analysis to your boss. She tells you that, although your analysis of each company’s financial information is fine, she is also interested in the quality of each company’s corporate governance. Pick a public company, download their most recent proxy statement in support of the annual meeting of shareholders, and write a brief report on the quality of each company’s board of directors in terms of board composition and structure, size, committees, and expertise.